Picking up where the first film left off, Red Cliff 2 finds Wu princess Sun Shang Xiang (Vicki Zhao) behind enemy lines. As she plays spy for Shu strategist Zhuge Liang (Kaneshiro Takeshi), Sun Shang Xiang strikes up an inadvertent friendship with an unknowing enemy (Tong Da Wei). Beset by typhoid, Liu Bei (You Yong) and the Shu forces retreat, leaving only Zhuge Liang to aid the remaining forces of Wu. Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) resort to subterfuge and cunning mindgames, seeking any advantage against the increasingly overconfident Cao Cao (Zhang Feng Yi). However, their forces are still vastly outnumbered by Cao Cao's, and with the battle fast approaching, victory seems far from assured. In the end, their only hope may by an unexpected plan launched by Zhou Yu's wife, the beautiful Xiao Qiao (Lin Chi Ling), as well as a surprising change in the wind...